THE Frost/Nixon film now on circuit reminds us that President Richard Nixon was forced out of office only two years after the Watergate break-in. When it came to covering up his role in the affair, the man was an amateur. The cover-up of the arms deal by the African National Congress (ANC) has so far lasted eight years, and counting.
The ANC no doubt counts among its supporters many people who would never dream of bribing anyone, forging anything, or stealing a cent. The issue now facing them is whether they follow Nelson Mandela's pathetic example and keep supporting a party which is systemically corrupt and whose corruption eats away at the state.
Apartheid extended its tentacles everywhere. Corruption under the ANC has become equally pervasive. This corruption has many manifestations. It ranges from the large to the petty, taints every level of the government, and spreads the length and breadth of the country. The arms deal and the cover-up thereof show that corruption starts at the top. "Travelgate" demonstrates that it extends into Parliament. The fact that the auditor-general, the public protector, and the national director of public prosecutions allowed the cabinet to doctor their report into the arms deal shows institutions essential to combating corruption are too cowardly for the job. Brave men such as Vusi Pikoli will be harder to find.
Corruption at home affairs is so pervasive that South African passports are now suspect. Corruption is endemic in the police, as the minister of safety and security admits. The Public Service Commission says corruption in the public sector is "frightful". There is widespread fraud in the payment and receipt of social grants. Last year more than 30000 public servants were facing possible prosecution for fraudulent acquisition of subsidised houses. Some 44000 fake driving licences have been issued. Willie Hofmeyr's investigating unit uncovers corruption wherever it looks.
But prosecuting the small fry does not solve the problem, not when the political bigwigs get away scot free, as the abolition of the Scorpions and the dismissal of Pikoli are designed to ensure, or when a fraud conviction is no bar to office at the top of the party -- or when Tony Yengeni is escorted to prison by the Speaker as if he is some kind of hero.
Before he jumped ship, Carl Niehaus was to be redeployed and "counselled". Jacob Zuma, fighting tooth and nail to avoid the law, is portrayed as a victim. That the ANC's trade union and communist allies are so determined to make him president shows they too believe their political agendas trump any ethical considerations.
In Mpumalanga, a whistle-blower against corruption is victimised -- possibly murdered -- and the manager he exposed is reinstated. A director-general of prisons is sidelined for resisting the award of a contract to a company under investigation for tender-rigging.
The ANC is as oblivious of the problem of conflict of interest as Judge John Hlophe.
Last year its treasurer-general, Mathews Phosa, defended the fact that many members of the ANC's national executive committee had business interests. "It's their constitutional right," he said. Maybe. But this is no ordinary party executive so much as a politburo that regards the cabinet and Parliament as its tools and the state as its property.
Corruption, along with the rule of law, must be made the top election issue.
No matter how much they love their party, public figures who support the ANC should publicly withdraw their support.
So should business. Five years ago, as the 2004 election loomed, big companies gave lots of money to various political parties, the ANC getting most. To finance the ANC again, after the sacking of Pikoli, the dissolution of the Scorpions, and the arms deal cover-up, is to miss an important opportunity to strike a blow against corruption.
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